Fort Collins Brewing Incredible Hop Imperial Black IPA

While at the Fort Collins Brewery, I picked up a bottle of Incredible Hop Imperial Black IPA. The beer pours a black color with a lofty and frothy tan colored head that leaves a thin lacing on the glass as it subsides. The aroma consists of chocolate, toasted malts, cardboard, lemon, pine, and caramel. The taste is full of toasted malts and dark chocolate flavors before it transitions into lemon, pine, spruce, and pepper. The after taste gives hints of coffee and sweet caramel. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV. This was quite a delicious and well done Imperial Black IPA. There was so much chocolate and toasted malt flavor that was balanced nicely with hop bitterness.

Fort Collins Incredible Hop Imperial India Pale Ale

I picked up a bottle of Fort Collins Incredible Hop Imperial India Pale Ale from the brewery and brought it home to share with friends. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy off-white colored head that leaves a nice lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, tangerine, orange, pine, and spruce. The taste is smooth and creamy with a huge caramel base. The finish actually makes the beer with a spicy pine and spruce bite that brings out the citrus flavors of tangerine, orange, and grapefruit. The alcohol content is 10.8% ABV. I’d say this beer is a little too malty and sweet, but at least the finish is somewhat redeeming and gives it some bitterness.

Fort Collins Obsessed Barley Wine

I ordered a glass of Fort Collins Obsessed Barley Wine while at the brewery for lunch. The beer pours a dark amber color with a frothy cream colored head. The aroma consists of caramel and raisin but overall it has a very faint smell. The taste is smooth and sweet with caramel, raisin, and toasted toffee. A peppery spice shows up on the finish and dries the mouth a little. The alcohol content is 9.6% ABV. I enjoyed this barleywine, as it had a nice blend of sweetness and spiciness. I can't say it was far better than any other in the style that I have had, but it was a most excellent performer.

Fort Collins Incredible Hop Rye Imperial IPA

Once we landed in Denver, we made the trip to Fort Collins, Colorado and the first stop was Fort Collins Brewery for lunch. The first beer I ordered was from the Incredible Hop Series and was a Rye Imperial IPA. The beer pours an orange amber color with a frothy cream colored head that leaves a moderate lacing on the glass. The aroma is spicy with rye, pepper, lemon, and caramel. The taste has a strong caramel base with a sharp lemon and rye bite. A peppery finish brings along some pine with it. The alcohol content is 10.2% ABV. Some great rye accents were added to this beer, as the Imperial IPA base was able to provide great balancing sweetness and citrus flavors.

Dogfish Head Fort (2007)

I was recently on vacation in Ocean City and we decided to drive up to the Dogfish Head Brewpub in Rehoboth. While at the brewpub, my buddy Matt and I decided to order a vintage bottle of Fort, vintage 2007. The beer pours a cloudy amber color with lots of red hues and a thin filmy white head. The aroma is warming with alcohol, a most notable presence, and raspberries, yeast, and raisin aromas as well. The taste is big and bold with plenty of raisin comprising of the base of the beer. On top of the raisin, the raspberry comes to life and provides a tart finish with a warming alcohol after taste. The alcohol content is 18.0% ABV. I had heard good things about Fort, and I was most impressed with the flavor profile of this beer. It kept itself from truly tasting like a “fruity” beer by having a prominent alcohol flavor, but the yeast base and tart raspberry finish were the most enjoyable parts of this beer.

Fort Collins Maibock

Before leaving Denver, I picked up a bottle of Fort Collins Maibock and shipped it back to myself for review. The beer pours a caramel color with a bubbly off-white colored head with a light lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of sweet malts, banana, and pepper. The taste has a sweet base before a bite of pepper kicks in on the tongue. There are plenty of sweet caramel malts setting up the base of the beer with hints of pepper and banana. The alcohol content is 6.3% ABV. This was a well put together maibock and is very smooth and sweet with a nice spicy accent. The hints of banana really added to the beer and gave it that nice sweet and fruity twist that the maibock needs.